After using a meditation app, Mandeep Grover finds many techniques which are just as useful when applied to a digital marketing strategy.
For the last two months, I have been spending 10 minutes a day focusing on my breathing using a meditation app. No complicated body poses or chanting of a mantra! Just a lot of deep breaths.
My experience got me thinking about how some of these principles could be applied to the evolving discipline of marketing. Here are a few thoughts to start:
1. Simplify: Whether it is the consumer journey, redemption pathway or even through the exchange of information, the key is to simplify it for the consumer. For example, instead of directing consumers to a website, provide them with information from the point at which they are already consuming media.
Depending on the media consumption habits of your target audience, this could mean information on social media channels like Facebook or LinkedIn, or content on YouTube.
For my mediation app, it meant developing a mobile platform that could enable breathing exercises on-call versus redirecting people to an ashram.
2. Quantify: The reason people decide to join a gym, say to lose weight, but then drop out after two months, is the lack of measurable results. And the same applies to digital marketing strategies.
The success of a marketing campaign takes time. But without results, finance teams find it tough to justify the investment and at times pull the plug on funding. Therefore, having early indicators that directionally indicate success helps to maintain investment.
This can be in the form of leads, awareness and even downloads.
3. Reflect: My meditation journey reinforced the importance of reflecting on my practice and how my behaviors were changing as a result of my daily exercise.
Without reflection, behavioral changes are (Read more...). Therefore, every marketer should capture “what worked” and “what did not work” in a campaign, in order to improve the next initiative.
A simple word document or Excel file with stakeholder feedback is a great starting point for an effective strategy.
4. Share: Sharing with a community is an integral element of a new journey. It can be high-fives on Facebook after your first run or a pat on the back from your friends after an accomplishment.
The wellbeing app I used offered rewards after 7,15, 30 and 90-day meditation streaks by giving me free coupons to share with friends. This allowed me to share accomplishments with friends while also inviting them to become a part of my journey.
It's important to give users the opportunity to share their experiences. Sharing through social media channels is a great way to maintain engagement and enhance the brand experience.
5. Align: At times, marketers limit information around campaigns with their support function such as supply chain, finance and customer service departments.
These support functions need to feel the impact of their contribution to the campaign. Sharing your campaign results with sales, supply chain and finance teams will not only increase their engagement but also may increase the campaign investment.
In conclusion, meditation and marketing seem to have a lot in common. Both disciplines require patience and discipline and a desire to constantly learn and evolve.
So what are you waiting for? Press the button and breathe!
*Image via Shutterstock
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